THE 
MONTHLY MAGAZINE. 
No. 107. | 
NovemeBe_enr 1, 1803. » 
feeror Won Toe 
or 
ORIGINAL COMMUNICATIONS. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SER, 
ANY obfervations have appeared 
within thefe few years on the fub- 
ject of the Credit of the Bank of England, 
and the Validity of Bank-Notes. The 
Authors have probably been actuated by 
pure and patriotic motives ; but it can be 
made to appear, mott eafily, that all their 
reafonings are unworthy of the fmallett 
attention. Unacquainted with the routine 
of the bufinefs of the Bank of England, 
and with the reftrictions under which 
Bank-Notes are iffued, thefe writers have 
aflumed miftaken data and deduced falfe 
Conclufions. 
No mathematical axiom, no felf-evident 
propofition, no geometrical demonftration, 
can be more apparent, than that the Bank 
of England is, and always has been, NE- 
CESSARILY folvent; and that every one of 
its notes MUST ALWAYS beworth twenty- 
fhillings in the pound. 
This pofition will be readily affented to 
on the bare perception of the two following 
FACTS : 
I. The Bank of Eng.and holds in pledge 
fubjianiial and undeniable fecurities for the 
ewhole amount of the notes which at any 
time it has iffued. 
Il. And every BonkeNote in circulation 
has its reprefentative value in the Bank of 
England. 
Thele two facts demonftrate the abfurd- 
ity of all the reafonings which have been 
publifhed of late years on this fubject ! 
However, for the information of perfons 
who are not acquainted with the routine 
of the Bank bufinefs, it may te ftated as 
a fatistactory elucidation of the above po- 
fitions, that no note is iffued from the Bank 
of England, except in the purchafe of 
Bullion, in the Difcounting of good com- 
mercial bills, and in Loans granted on un- 
exceptionable public or private fecurity. 
Ata cris like the prefent, it feems 
to me, Mr. Editor, worth while to fet 
this queftion in fo clear a light as to pre- 
vent its diftracting the attention, or dimi- 
pifhing the confidence of the country. | 
I am, Sir, your humble fervant, 
Lombard Street. PyiLo VERITATISs 
_ Montuiy Mac, “No, 107. 
To the Editor of the Monthly Magazine. 
SIR, i 
HE Marine Spencer, mentioned in 
page 160, of your September Ma- 
gazine,* having recalled to my mind fome 
ideas which occurred to me a few years 
fince, I commit them to paper, for infer- 
tion in your valuable repofitory, in cafe 
you deem them worthy of public notice. 
_ Although the experiments of Dr. Frank. 
lin have demonttrated the power of oil to 
fmooth the waves of the fea, it does not 
appear (at leaft I have not been able to 
learn) that the knowledge of that impor- 
tant fact has yet been prattically applied 
to the prefervation of fhips or men’s lives. 
Indeed, without proceeding fomewhat 
further than the bare effufion of oil, how- 
ever large the quantity, I do not conceive 
that any great benefit can refult from it 
to the diftrefled mariner. For, let us fup. 
pofe a cafe of the moft favourable kind—= 
fuppofe a fhip from the whale-fifhery, — 
laden with oil to the very deck, and, in a 
ftorm, all hands bufily employed in pour- 
ing out the oil as expeditioufly and copt- 
oufly as poffible—what is the confequerce ? 
As faft as they pour it out, the wind ana 
the waves {weep it all to leeward, where 
it may indeed allay the billows in that 
part of the fea from which the fhip has no 
danger to dread: but, all this while, the 
windward furges, which are rufhing on to 
affail her, receive no part of the oil to 
fmooth their roughnefs, but invade her 
with undiminifhed fury; fo that, after 
having exhaufted his latt barrel, we may 
truly fay of the poor weather-beaten ma- 
riner, ‘‘ oleum et operam perdidit !” 
To remedy this inconvenience, until 
fome more ingenious perfon fhall have de- 
nl ee 
* By the way, I will be much obliged to 
any of your Correfpondents who will take 
the trouble of informing me, through the 
medium of your Mifcellany, in what refpect 
and how far this Marine Spencer differs from 
the Marine Belt publicly exhibited on the 
Thames, at London-bridge, inthe year 17645 
as mentioned in Dodfley’s Annual Regitter 
for that year, page [93]. 
ae vifed 
li 
